"Valitar," set in a fantasy kingdom of sleek stallions and acrobatic equestrians, was touted as a matchless spectacle.

Even before the Nov. 16 “world premiere” under a massive crimson tent at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the Rancho Santa Fe producers were planning a 10-month, five city U.S. tour.

Mark and Tatyana Remley predicted a hit.

“It’s like Cirque du Soleil with horses,” Tatyana told a television reporter last fall, “but it’s its own type of show.”

What type of show was it? A disaster. “Valitar” only had a five-day run, the Remleys putting it down after its Nov. 20 performance. Insiders now say the real spectacle unfolded offstage — and will soon move center stage as lawsuits filed against the couple raise questions about the ill-fated show. The Remleys did not respond to several interview requests, but legal documents and people associated with “Valitar” describe a couple with lofty ambitions but limited abilities.

“They had no clue what they were doing — about anything,” said Erik Martonovich, “Valitar’s” original director. “They weren’t horse people and they weren’t show people.”

As the show took shape, former employees say, the Remleys went from reckless spenders to pennypinchers. Vendors and employees have sued the couple for millions in unpaid salaries and bills. The corporation Mark had created to oversee “Valitar,” Equustria Development, has filed for bankruptcy.

While Mark wrestled with the production’s ever-climbing costs, Tatyana pursued her dreams of stardom. Ads for “Valitar” prominently featured the curvaceous blonde, despite her modest part in the show.

“She didn’t do any of the stunts,” said Roza Tabasa, the hospitality manager for “Valitar,” who saw one of the few performances. “But in the end, when the whole cast lined up and everybody is applauding, this blonde lady comes down the center, the other cast members part for her — and there’s silence.

“People are thinking, ‘Who’s she? Oh, it’s the lady in the poster.’ ”

‘Gladiator’

To hear Tatyana tell it, she created “Valitar” on a whim. In late 2011, she maintained during a TV interview, she confessed a “lifelong dream” to her new husband.

“Sit down, honey,” she recalled saying to Mark. “It’s crazy — are you ready? Let’s start a show and call it ‘Valitar.’ ”

But in another version of this production’s birth, the Remleys began with an even bolder vision: they would create a show to rival “Cavalia,” the horse-and-acrobatics show created by a Cirque du Soleil founder.

This is the tale told by Martonovich, a competitive rider, founder of Las Vegas’ Big Horse Productions and former “Cavalia” cast member. The Remleys contacted him in January 2012, asking if he’d help mount a production like “Cavalia.”

“But I believe they said they wanted to make their show ‘hotter,’ with fire,” the Vegas horseman said.

Face-to-face in Nevada, then via phone and email from California, they talked cost (for a “Cavalia”-level show, $10 million or more). They talked acts (Martonovich is a “vaulter,” someone who performs gymnastics on horseback). They talked show titles.

“Gladiator,” the show Martonovich wrote with Caesar’s Palace in mind, would work but would need a name with fewer Roman echoes. With a friend, Martonovich experimented with variations on the Latin word for “mighty,” validus.